Spring Break
by crowskisses
Summary: When Bonnie and Damon celebrate the beginning of spring break they hit an emotional tipping point. 'I Love College' universe, spring break junior year. Directly precedes "The Summer of Bonnie Matt and Damon". Display issues fixed :)


Summary: When Bonnie and Damon celebrate the beginning of spring break they hit an emotional tipping point. 'I Love College' universe, spring break junior year. Directly precedes "The Summer of Bonnie Matt and Damon".

Rating: K+ (language)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, technically someone does, but they don't like it when you tell them that.

A/N: Cleaning out my writing folder and finding all sorts of stuff I never posted. This was originally supposed to be a short prequel for 'The Summer of Bonnie, Matt and Damon", but got saved under a strange name so it never got included in the story. Its set junior year and is preceded by 'A Dalcrest Winter Wonderland'. Written to "Vindicated" by Dashboard Confessionals. I've only read LJ's stuff, so no reference to anything beyond _Midnight. _~ crow

…...

Spring Break

"Effing werewolves." Bonnie raged as they staggered down the street at 3 am. "I thought we killed all of them, the whole pack of killers."

Damon stopped walking, his offer serious. "He wasn't in the pack...but we could kill him now. Want to?"

She stopped as well, debating if the offer would extend her time with Damon. Technically, it was Damon who'd eliminated the pack on her behalf and technically this werewolf hadn't done anything except try and pick her up. Bonnie wasn't a killer, so she attempted nonchalance in her response, but failed. "No, I don't want to get my dress dirty."

He gave her one of his dazzling smiles and suddenly there were multiple Damon's spinning at the edges of her vision. "I think I got roofied!"

"I think you're just hammered, you've got your fake Scottish accent on." The fake accent he both loved and hated for its charming lilt and ridiculous phrases. He was firm with her, as if anyone could have gotten near enough to her drink with him on the prowl.

She frowned, beginning to walk again. "No, I didn't have that much to drink. Can you check please?"

He was in front of her, sullen black eyes meeting hers. "I thought we weren't allowed to trade blood. I would _hate _to hurt Mutt's feelings..."

She rolled her eyes and held out her finger, "Just a pinprick. Matt doesn't have to know."

He quirked an eyebrow, reading her. "So you're not telling him you went drinking with Damon tonight, are you?"

"We didn't go drinking, we just ran into each other." It was a happy response as she shoved her finger at his mouth, not caring they were in the middle of the street. Everyone was already gone for spring break anyway.

His black eyes held hers as he pricked her finger, taking a single, sensual lick before pulling away. "Interesting phrasing, redbird. Just rum."

"Rum rum in my tum tum." She repeated for him, beginning their trek home anew. Damon didn't dignify her childish words with a response.

She reached for his hand, idly intertwining their fingers, "We should hang out more again!"

And further entangle them all in the current triangle? Damon wasn't interested in that game, he'd had enough triangles to last him several more lifetimes. He'd been attempting to do the honorable thing here, as it seemed to have worked well for Stefan. She'd asked them both to step back, asked for time and he'd obliged to the best his passions would allow.

Bonnie turned them up the walk stopping abruptly. "I don't have a house key."

Damon pulled her up the steps, dark eyes frowning. "Me either. The spare?"

"Matt's been using it since he lost his key." She frowned back at him, knowing since Meredith had been the last to leave all of the windows would be locked and she didn't relish the idea of breaking into their own house.

"I hate your boyfriend." The black tones were laced with disgust.

"He's not my boyfriend! We've been over that already tonight!" She was so sick of saying it. So sick of defending why she wasn't in a relationship with Matt. It was between her and Matt anyway and he understood. It wasn't like he was just waiting around for her, pining, he was doing his own thing.

Damon was moving away from her and she followed, his tight voice floating back to her. "Why do you bother to keep saying that when you sleep in his room?"

Heat rose in her cheeks as they hit the side of the house, she'd crashed there maybe twice after a late night movie marathon. How dare Damon insinuate what went on in Matt's room? Anger was coursing through her as she staggered after him. "You know nothing happens. I know you listen through the wall."

He turned over his shoulder, his black eyes unfathomable, "But how soon until it does, redbird?" Clouds began to gather above them, his voice shifting. "How soon until you get drunk and let him? Will you be screwing him and still swooning in my arms?"

"How dare you act like I'm some sort of floozie! I would never and you know it. Even if I did get drunk he would never and you know that too!" Anger, hot and burning was coursing in her veins. She stomped her foot. "I'm not doing any of those things!"

"That's right..." he drawled out, his anger rising to match hers in bitterness. "Because you're waiting for me to throw my heart at your feet."

"Damon..." She protested, wondering where this shift had come from. They'd been having so much fun tonight, just the two of them hanging out for the first time in a long time. "It's not that..."

"Let me make it easy for you, Bonnie. I don't want what you want." His black panther eyes were as hard as his voice cool. She felt tears stinging her eyes immediately.

"You want a relationship... a cute little human future." It was like a dam pouring out, once he'd unleashed the attack he was too drunk to stop it. He almost seemed to choke on the word, his thoughts coming out like a torrent. "I don't do that. My thrill is in the chase, redbird, in gaining ownership. Once I have a woman I get bored quickly...then I rip her throat out. Do you think you're any different?"

She opened her mouth to protest she was different, he was different, this whole thing was special and uncharted territory. Matt be damned, they both knew this wild ride was inevitable between them. He sneered at her, the black eyes lashing out before he could be hit. "You think you could keep my attention when even Elena couldn't?"

Bonnie's mouth snapped shut as her mind reeled with hurt, her tears spilling out. How dare he make that comparison? He was still talking, the velvet voice dragging her self-confidence over burning coals. "I got bored of _her, _goddess on earth..."

Bonnie watched her hand reach out like it wasn't connected to her body, watched it swing and accelerate towards his face in slow motion. It collided, the harsh smack bringing her back into real time as his face swung to the side. He looked to the side for a moment, her red handprint glaring against his pale skin. Then ever so slowly he turned back to look at her and she quailed under his furious gaze. She tried to run, his hand smacking the wall next to her, trapping her back against the locked back door.

The rage was ever so controlled in his voice, as lightning struck across the yard. "You shouldn't have done that."

"No. You shouldn't have said that!" She didn't care that she was crying or that her words were slurred, she flung her only ammunition. "Matt would never-"

"-I'm beginning to get bored of you, redbird." It was a very controlled warning, they both knew what happened to girls after he got bored with them.

She ignored it, pushing onward in her assault. "You think you can just say or do whatever you want to me because I always forgive you...Not anymore Damon. This ends tonight."

There was no warmth in those black eyes as he cocked his head to look at her neck. "So it does."

He leaned in and she turned her head away, struggling uselessly. "Don't. I promised Matt -"

His lips brushed her ear, his whisper one of a slow death. "Bored now."

He bit hard, the twin sting a painful rip of her neck. She struggled against it, struggled against the pain of having her blood drawn out forcefully. Struggled even as he unleashed the rainclouds above them, torrents of icy rain battering down on them. Her soul fought this domination, refused to bend against his will, turning instead into the searing pain.

She knew only burning.

Damon stepped back from her and let Bonnie drop, sliding down the door into a limp mess. He'd taken more than he should have, but not nearly enough to kill her. Dispassionately, he reached for the back door handle and twisted hard, breaking the lock. He opened the door, using the force of it's opening to push her body out of the way. He stepped over her and into the house, she could rot out in the rain for all he cared tonight.

He only made it inside three staggering steps before he sighed, giving in to the side of him that just couldn't hurt her. He was still furious with her, still drunk enough to let these contrary emotions show, but he picked her up and carried her to the couch. A few minutes later he had dry clothes and a glass of black magic to nurse until she woke up. She had been right, it ended tonight.

The first thing Bonnie felt when she woke was pain, hot and sharp in the side of her neck. She reached a hand towards the bloody spot, a dry searing feeling shooting through the rest of her body. She managed to sit up, her head pounding with what felt like the worst hangover of all time. She turned towards the black eyes waiting for her in the chair, his face completely impassive. Her thoughts began to work again, swirling around her. "You didn't give me any blood after you took it..."

"As I recall, you didn't want to share." His voice was controlled, no hint of emotion lurking there.

She rubbed her face and reached for the glass of black magic he'd left her, she gulped it down speedily. There was a sudden chasm between them, a huge gulf that seemed impossible to breach. It had gone too far, with words that couldn't be taken back. Somehow it seemed even, tentatively she reached for her neck again. "I thought you ripped the throats out of girls you were bored of. I'm still...alive?"

He shrugged with one shoulder, looking away from her. He was once again the Damon of her senior year, cold and unpredictable. "You didn't give in, everyone else has. I found it...interesting."

"Even Elena?" Bonnie was surprised at the bitterness in her voice, she was long over that drama. Everyone was.

"Especially Elena...She's never been good at resisting temptation." There was no passion in his voice, none of the pride he'd once held for the blonde girl showing. Just the wearied remembrance of years past, of enough time gone to no longer care about something that once seemed so important.

Silence enveloped the room again and as it wrapped around them, minutes going by and Bonnie began to panic. There was a black duffel bag at his feet. She opened her mouth but Damon broke it, "I've already called Meredith to get you."

"You're leaving!" She accused, panic swirling more completely around her. She still felt terrible.

He rose, "It's for the best, red-" he corrected himself, "Bonnie."

She rose too, the world going black around her as she stood. For once he didn't catch her, instead letting her fall back to the couch, though his fingers twitched with effort. She choked her question out, tears threatening again. "Why?"

He swallowed, the first sign of emotion he'd shown since she'd woken. He gave her a wry smile that held some of his trademark confidence, "Isn't it obvious?"

She stared back and shook her head, tears still threatening. Emotion rushed into his velvet voice, raw and unrestrained. "If I stay...it's inevitable that I'll change you and you certainly aren't ready for that, little bird."

There was a lump in her throat, this was the closest he'd come to saying he had romantic feelings for her. For mentioning he wanted her...wanted her for forever. So different from his earlier words of bravado, yet still different from his disdain and jealousy of Matt. She managed to choke out a few words, "We could be like Stefan and Elena. She's got time to think if she wants to change."

A sharp shake of his head as he turned away. "Why do you think you'd have a choice?"

She swallowed sharply, suddenly understanding the implications of everything. If they dated it would be forever, whether she liked it or not. She loved him, had loved him for years, but was she ready to give up her life? Her humanity, her family, her world to be with him? Was she even old enough to make that sort of decision? He didn't have the control to let her, his first instinct still to take. "I...you wouldn't do that."

He glanced back at her, the black not hiding anything. "I've done it before, much more impulsively than this."

His laughter was dark as she wondered what had happened to those other women. "You all forget I'm not some tamed creature, that my soul is still rife with darkness. Well...all except Mutt, I'll give him that."

"The only difference from now and then is now you admit to caring." Bonnie protested, realizing as the words came out of her mouth, they weren't completely true. None of them were the same as they had been years ago when they first met, just as Damon's death had changed him it had altered her as well. Time had run its fingers through her mortal heart, shifting childhood innocence into knowledge, tempering her untamed mouth that accidently caused hurt and shifting wild giggles into when they were (mostly) appropriate.

He put a hand on the door, not looking at her. Ice was back in his voice. "I care enough to let you live, redbird."

A tear ran down her cheek, he truly was leaving. "When will you be back?"

"Thanksgiving at the latest." He opened the door, hesitating for a moment. His parting words saying nothing and everything in two syllables. "Be safe."

Then he was gone and she was collapsing into herself, sobbing. He cared and it didn't matter. She cared, but maybe not enough. She lost herself to black magic and tears.

"Going somewhere?" A familiar French accent said from behind Damon, foot nudging the bag at his feet.

He was too morose to even turn on his bar stool, "Anywhere but here."

Sage took the bar stool next to him, eyes penetrating. "What's wrong, _mon corbeau_?"

Damon took a long drink of the whiskey he'd filched from the back of the bar. They were usually closed at this hour, but locks had never been an issue for him. "Women...A woman."

"Ah, fair Elena's fire too much?" Sage took the bottle from him, taking a thoughtful sip. He certainly knew the blonde had since passed out of Damon's heart's obsession, but knew equally well how little he would talk about the current one. This was not instant obsession, not a romance begun in the effort to take something from his brother. This time it was slower to grow, pushed away by both parties and often inexplicable to Damon's own thoughts and understanding of himself. He did not care, he famously did not care and yet…..he cared all the same.

Damon snorted, "Stefan can keep her. Things have changed in the year since I've seen you."

"They always do." Sage agreed, still eyeing him with concern.

Damon looked over at the other vampire with bleary bloodshot eyes, his slur an accusation. "Why were you with my bird tonight?" He paused, "Why did she lie about it...to me?"

"I had a question for her." It was a truth in its own way, "I asked her not to tell the others. No need to sound the bells of doom and gloom in your house."

"We've got Mutt for that." Damon took another drink, musing. "Maybe I'll go through Fells Church just to snap his neck." 

Sage's chuckle was dark. "I think that would upset quite a few of your friends."

"Good." Damon muttered it, reaching for the bottle again.

"What happened?" Sage asked again, pulling the whiskey away from Damon.

"I ripped Bonnie's throat out...again." Damon ignored the whiskey Sage now had, instead simply reaching over the bar and pulling up the first bottle he could grab. Gin. He frowned at it, "I should have compelled the bartender to make me drinks, rather than sleep."

Sage frowned, but said nothing for several minutes. When he spoke again there was no reprimand, just a thoughtful offer, perhaps he was even feeling guilty for the question he'd asked Bonnie earlier. "I'm en route to South America for business if you are in need of a distraction."

"What kind of business?" Damon asked, setting the gin down, he would go either way. He needed to get out of this human hellhole and domesticated life. He needed to be a vampire again, to revel in blood and remember how worthless human life was.

"Hunting party...up your old line of work." Sage gave him a grin, the familiar feral smile Damon had seen countless times before.

"Let's go." He stood, swaying and grabbed his duffle bag. He looked down at it and let it drop, attachment to material possessions was a very human idea and he didn't want anything to do with humans anymore. He would leave everything behind this time, leave behind haunting brown eyes in the jungles of South America.

Or he would certainly try.


End file.
